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Makes me think of the lyrics to a pretty good song. "every man dies, not every man lives". See, this is what bothers me today, there are so many laws to "protect" us from ourselves, which is contradictory to human nature. Death is tragic, yes, but sometimes I think not being able to live the way one wants is even more tragic.

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My only problem with adrenaline junkies or people who actually want to kill themselves is how their behavior impacts others. Our insurance rates go up for every moron who hurts a perfectly healthy body, and needs medical attention, or who hurts innocent bystanders or property.
I used to enjoy the thrill of driving over a hundred miles an hour on the highway, but I was careless and disrespectful of everyone else I put at risk. The only thing that saved me from dying or killing others is luck! The laws are there in place of common sense which I have been guilty of having a lack of years ago. Frank

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At one time I did not think much of safety harness, and still do not like the weight or to wear them but, will not hardly climb any thing with out one now, I have never slipped lost my balance or got dizzy but I am not about to start now, I still need to put a safety cable on the one windmill, for climbing it. I like that cable and the cable grab. 6116540 - Lad-Saf Flexible Cable Ladder Safety System 3/8" or 8mm

A few years ago, a cell phone company had an employee fall from the top of a tower, some thing about driving a different pickup truck that day and not having the proper safety gear with him and he chose to climb any way,,
I had hear that nearly ever bone below his shoulder blades was shattered when he hit, it ended up in a big law suit, I had heard that about half of his the coworkers quit that day as well from the result of his death,

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Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
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"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
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PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

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Early on when I was working in manholes we sometimes did not vent them before entering. Venting is simply letting a blower force fresh air into the manhole for a few minutes in order to prevent entering into what's called "dead air", or air too low in oxygen to sustain consciousness. We were also supposed to use an explosimeter prior to descending. Well, this one time we pulled the outer and inner covers and I started to climb down without venting the hole. I took one breath and felt the strength drain from my body, luckily I was 25 years old and in the best shape of my life. Unfortunately what happens when someone collapses into a manhole is that their partner assumes they slipped and fell so he tries to rescue them and becomes a second victim.

Like I said before if someone wants to take risks to get a thrill, more power to them. I just think they should consider others who might be affected by their actions.

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If these sky larking kids had fallon their family would be screaming at the authorities why this happened there have to be laws to protect morons from themselves
Just one example where I live some morons went out trail bike riding and got lost and the police were called in to recure them they took no provisions they left at 4pm and didn`t know the area and in the end the tax payer has to foot the bill to search for them and this goes on and on as no ome takes responsiblity for thier own actions its always someone elses fault and we have to pay for them

Tony

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Well, there IS a difference between living on the edge or being stupidly so self-centered that your adrenaline rush matters more than the impact your death may have on others. Teenagers especially have little realization of vulnerablitly. It may be simply that their brains haven't quite matured yet, but I do know that people of that age can do absolutely fantastic things, simply because they have yet to be impacted by the realities of life. (It is made sad, only because they don't factor in the safe way of such adventures.) Some of these, never grow up, and become addicted to the "rush".

While that may be great for them as individuals, they do not see the impact on society, on their families, or on those that stand by them through such foolishness. I do remember well my teen-age years and it was full of adventure and of course, risk. But "stupidity" played very little in such adventure, as I also understood the responsibility of training, back-up, knowledge of the factors, and proper planning. Yet, there was also risk and for that "adventure" was part of life. I've spent some time in airplanes, going off alone into the winter hills for days, rock and ice climbing, and other things that my parents probably did not like... but most always, "what if" was a forethought, and "survival" a major thought should factors not go my way.

Back then, "driving" was probably about the most dangerous venture that ended most kids lives in my area. It's funny, because just yesterday morning I was thinking about my oldest grandson who turned 16 last week. He hasn't yet asked about "driving", but I know it's coming. I was thinking about that, and how I'd like to be the one who teaches him about "driving", the responsibilities for sure, but more from the simple mechanics and physical dynamics of being at the wheel of two or three thousand pounds of steel and plastic as it hurdles down the road. The tires, the road, the unbelievable number of factors that all go into the effect of that transport and all the things that can NOT be assumed.

In this thought, I found myself remembering all the kids that I knew in my teen years that simply committed suicide, plain and simple, while they were behind the wheel. It's really not much different than those guys out there on the beam, risking it all for the shear joy of literally being out there on the edge. No understanding of the physics, no understanding of a possible gust of wind, no factoring in any kind of "what if"... only a self-centered thought of the "rush" and perhaps the edging or dare and the macho stand-out before your pals.

Of course, we may not see that there may be some safety net, or cable, or other safeguard that they may have thought of. And perhaps the fact that we don't see that makes us sort of wince a bit. But it also makes me wonder what such pictures will place in the heads of others who might want to emulate this stunt.

In the meantime, my memory drifts back to Harland, Charlie, Bobby, Lamarr, and a handful of other kids in my school who I only knew by face and the fact of their demise. All guys with fast cars, daring spirit, and not a single thought beyond their enjoyment of recklessness in that last hour of life on the edge. It matters not, that with most of these guys I didn't particularly miss or even like them. But I remember the sisters or brothers, the girl friends, and the utter devastation that their mother's and father's felt. In some cases, that family was destroyed beyond imagination. The victim in his selfish and unthoughtful last hour, may have just as well gone home and taken a shotgun to his family. It would have been more merciful. But teenagers and far too many other people have no sense of responsibility to others.

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I admire thrill seekers who make an effort to use the proper safety gear and reduce their risks while enjoying themselves. I remember watching a program about several experienced hang gliders who ventured to some distant mountain range. The program aired at least twenty years ago and in the closing credits two or three of these guys were reported to have died in the following weeks or months. It was sad to think they were young, and strong and lost their lives to their past time.

CWS mentioned "tires" as something he wanted to educate his grandson on, and I think that is very important. I have a real problem with folks who ignore the condition of their tires because they are so vital to safe driving. I shake my head when I pass by a top of the line suv or car and see worn tires, don't they realize their lives are riding on those tires? Fact is that once a tire tread is worn just half way, the handling of that tire is much more than half way gone. Our family may have older vehicles but brakes and tires are always in top condition.

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Oh, but when one of the "buys the farm," in every case you hear the old rhetoric "(S)he died doing what they loved." So what, they're dead, right? Did that one moment of adrenaline rush fully compensate for the days, hours, and years of grief that must be endured by the many that were near and dear to them? Imagine how much more fulfilling their life would be if they had learned to find enjoyment in something less stupid.

Here's our local adrenaline junkie attraction: people come from all over the world to parachute off of the bridge that connects us to the rest of the world. It's really cool to watch but the river turns red every little while from someone whose chute malfunctions, the drop being so short that there is simply no time to react to try to correct a malfunction. This really is a big deal, most days there are jumpers, and on weekends the place swarms. Holiday weekends are even a bigger deal, a lot of locals go there just to watch.

Like I said, it's cool to watch, but it does take a toll. Once in a while a bunch of valuable emergency response resources are tied up there for most of a day at our expense, trying to pull the mutilated body of some former thrill seeker out of the bottom of the canyon.

I always wonder, as I drive by: What would it be like to be spending your time totally consuming it on yourself and your own enjoyment, contributing nothing at all to the greater good? I mean, it's the middle of the week, the middle of the day, and fully capable people in the prime of life are not producing anything of value with their talents and energy. As I think about it I have to conclude that for me the thrill and adrenaline rush would have to be shadowed by a certain emptiness caused by the knowledge that other "common, out-of-touch" normal people, even those doing boring things like driving a septic truck or building a dentist's office, are contributing far more value to the world in the grand scheme of things than I am as I bail over the rail.